Colour of ink to denote rank?

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Old-Salt

At the obvious risk of leaving myself open to comment and criticism along the lines of, get a life, or do you have nothing better to pass the day, I have a question which I am unable to answer.

A couple of years ago a fellow officer passed comment that a colleague wrote all correspondence in green ink (pen and email), which was the incorrect colour for their rank (Major). I vaguely remember him going on to explain the colours but at that stage either I lost interest or had been ripped away to prepare yet another pointless brief.

My question now is can the colours of pen ink denote the rank of the author and, if so, does anyone know the colours for each rank?

'It is sometimes better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are a fool than open it and remove all doubt.'

MIA

I always used green for notes on printed text, accepting that red was for corrections (and didn't survive Xerox) and blue always felt a bit schoolboyish. Unless stuff is circulating at a seriously high level colour is a bit academic.

If you are really bigtime then it is your handwriting that is recognisable - not the colour you use. This used to be the case - the joke was that Hoon couldn't be trusted with ink and so got pencils and a potato stamp.

LE

Blue - nasty
Black - gooood
Red - for corrections for subordinates submissions.
Green - got swiped at by my CO when I was Adjt for using it. When he worked up town, a variety of 3*s used it and lowly staff didn't!

Still, that was a few years ago and I don't think there is anything official published about it.

Any JSP 101 Nazis about?

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.

War Hero

LE

Personally, I only use green ink when writing to the Queen, the Prime Minister, newspaper editors etc complaining about the reptile-like life-forms from the constellation Sirius who have infiltrated the Vatican and the United Nations and are seeking world domination. For most other correspondence I simply cut out useful letters and words from newspapers.

LE

Green ink is usually used by Outraged of Surbiton and other unemployable compulsives in writing to their local rag. And Control in Tinker Tailor, writing on a glass backing so that no impression is left on papers below. Control hated everything except Surrey and Lords cricket ground, which probably puts him in the first category.

What utter bolleaux. Write in black ink so that it is legible and copyable. The content, and not the colours, will show the readers your intelligence, or lack thereof, but sadly often not your rank.

I have difficulty believing that officers have time to spend in discussing such utter shite.

Peccavi.

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at.